The present invention relates generally to the field of fluid control, and, more specifically to systems for applying chemicals such as fertilizer, weed killer, and insecticide to a lawn or garden.
At present, the application of these chemicals is a manual task. The gardener applies each in sequence as a directed activity. There are a number of problems inherent in such an undertaking. First, such an application requires that the gardener obtain a hose of sufficient length to reach all parts of the lawn or garden and that he locate a siphon pump to combine the concentrate chemical into the water stream. This effort is labor intensive and tends to expose the individual to noxious chemicals during application. Due to its difficulty, the application is likely to be delayed to the detriment of the lawn or garden. In addition, there are the short-term and long-term consequences of exposure to these chemicals to consider.
Furthermore, the application of chemicals in such an operation tends to be uneven to the extreme. Even though there may be a well-designed automatic sprinkler system in place capable of even distribution of water, the manual application of chemicals makes it difficult to achieve even coverage of the fluid stream from the hose. In addition, the gardener has almost no control over the relative concentration of the chemicals in the water stream nor the rate of flow of the stream. In short, this is a very error-prone activity. Chemicals are likely to be wasted or misapplied. Because the individual has no facility for carefully controlling the composition of the chemical mixture applied, he often purchases multiple fertilizers, for example, that contain the same chemicals but in different concentrations.